Labyrinthine
by Mags-12998
Summary: RED's Engineer discovers a mysterious underground to the RED half of 2fort.
1. Now isn't that mysterious

Engineer was walking through the basement, an unusual occurrence. Sure, everybody on the RED side of 2fort knew about the basement, knew how to get to it (through a door in the resupply next to the intel room), and knew what was in it (mostly assorted storage), but its prevailing weather conditions-damp, cold, and various combinations thereof-dissuaded most REDs from superfluous trips down there. Engineer was only there because he needed some more pencils for working on his blueprints; all of the others he had were down to mere stubs.

However, Engineer was lost, and he had yet to find the correct storage room. Noting one on his right that he hadn't checked yet, he brushed the thick layer of dust off of the doorknob and tried it. The door opened not into yet another storage room as Engineer had expected, but rather into a long, dimly-lit staircase.

His interest piqued, Engineer started walking down the stairs before he remembered that he was supposed to be getting some pencils. He could always investigate tomorrow or the day after.

The next day was Saturday, and as such, there was no fighting (well, official, cross-team fighting) for the day. The REDs and the BLUs stayed on their own side of 2fort; for the most part, everyone entertained themself.

Engineer normally spent the day making minute adjustments to his buildings to make them even more efficient and accurate (not that his teammates would notice, but he liked to do things as best he could); however, today he was going to explore that staircase he had found yesterday.

It took him a while to find the correct door, but once he had, he set out at once for wherever it led. He hadn't told any of his teammates about his discovery; it wasn't that big of a deal, and exploring with someone didn't appeal much to him-he worked better alone.

The stairway was a long one. Engineer had lost sight of the entrance before he came to the door-or, rather, he nearly walked into it. The doorknob was sticky and for a moment Engineer was sure it was locked but after a few moments he realized that it was not.

Engineer stepped out into a completely dark hallway, but as soon as he took a step forward, lights turned on, revealing corridors stretching off into the distance.

This interesting phenomenon of a subbasement almost made Engineer forget that the lights had turned on by themselves. They had to have been operated by _somebody_...

However, as he peered down the corridor, Engineer noticed a familiar component mounted on the wall, a sentry's motion cam, pointed at the door. It must have been connected to the lights.

Just from a cursory inspection, it appeared that the subbasement was as large as or larger than the basement, and Engineer didn't particularly want to get lost. If he were to use a string to find his way back, and if he mapped it as he went...

Engineer's third visit to the subbasement door, the next day (he had been held up by Spy accidentally-on-purpose breaking one of his work tables, and it took the rest of the day to fix), took less time than the first two. It seemed as though he was actually learning the layout of the basement, somewhat.

After carefully tying the string off on the doorknob, Engineer set off to explore this new realm. The corridors snaked all over the place in rather illogical ways, and though he thought it was arranged in a vaguely grid-like pattern, he wound up back-tracking more than once.

Half an hour into his exploration, Engineer was poking into any rooms he came across when he found another flight of stairs.

He carefully tied the string off on the doorknob and followed it back to the entrance. He wanted to have another string for this second floor; he was _not_ going to get lost like some inexperienced fool!

Engineer came back quickly with a whole ball of twine this time and a pair of scissors. The string he had tied certainly helped him get back to the staircase.

To Engineer's dismay, the second floor, while structurally similar to the first, was completely different in terms of layout.

He sighed. If he was going to map this place, he'd best start by exploring.

Over the course of the next two weeks, Engineer spent a small amount of his free time simply _exploring_. He'd discovered a third floor to the subbasement, and had sketched rough maps of all three floors, but what interested him most were the _rooms_.

A lot of them were empty, but when Engineer found a dusty old crate of food or what have you, he always felt a little pleased.

On one end of the second floor, Engineer had found quite a few rooms filled with computers, which he had deduced to be the computers that controlled his buildings. He'd always known that most of their computing power had come from somewhere else, but he'd never guessed it was from something like _this!_ He felt like he could just sit and watch the giant computers for hours; as he was trying to explore, he limited it to merely a few dozen minutes.

Engineer tried to make his surreptitious visits as unnoticeable as possible. He still hadn't told any other RED about the subbasement; if somebody wandered in and wasn't careful, they would no doubt get lost, and Engineer kind of liked having his own little world to explore. It wouldn't be half as wonderful if the whole base could just barge right in.


	2. Aaaaaand we get another main character

"Laborer, we need to talk."

This simple phrase startled Engineer, causing him to make a large streak on the sketch he was making of a possible sentry upgrade. (He was considering adding a flamethrower, just to humiliate that BLU Spy.) He whipped around and saw Spy leaning on the far wall of the workshop, his ever-present cigarette sending a tongue of smoke to the ceiling. "What d'ya want, Spah?" Engineer asked.

"I 'ave noticed a slight anomaly in your routine and I would like you to explain it," Spy said.

"I don't know what yer talkin' 'bout," Engineer said flatly. Spy _couldn't_ know about the subbasement. ...Could he?

"Per'aps you would prefer it if I were to tell zis to ze team, and zen _zey_ could ask you."

Engineer would much rather tell the team once he had finished mapping out the place. He bit his lip, knowing that he really didn't have a choice. "Fine, Spah, I'll tell ya if'n ya promise not to tell anyone else before I'm done."

Spy paused for a moment, as if considering Engineer's request, but Engineer knew better; Spy would not refuse an offer of secrets divulged. "All right, I promise," Spy said. "What 'ave you been doing?"

Instead of replying, Engineer pulled out the rough sketches he'd bade of the subbasement, as well as some of the notes he'd made on the computers.

Spy leaned forward, his cigarette dribbling a few ashes onto the papers. "Now _zis_ is interesting, laborer. Where is zis?"

"It's the subbasement-under the basement. I've been explorin' it fer 'bout two weeks."

"Well, well, well... I'll 'ave to take a look. Does now work?"

"Uh... I guess, sure. C'mon," Engineer said, "this way." He stood and motioned to the door.

The two walked down to the subbasement in silence (aside from the occasional "This way, Spah."). Spy tried to look uninterested, as if this was a normal occurrence, but Engineer could tell he was excited-there was a slight spring in his step that was normally absent, and he walked fast enough that Engineer had to hurry to keep up.

Spy seemed surprised to see the strings that Engineer had run from the door to the more important areas. "So you do 'ave _some_ sense," he remarked.

Engineer snorted. "I'm not plannin' on gettin' lost anytime soon."

"Of course."

It took Engineer over an hour to show Spy around the three levels of the subbasement. Spy cared little for the computers after learning that they only controlled Engineer's buildings (a fact which Engineer tried not to take offense to), but he was much more interested in the contents of the rooms-old food, ammo, or just nothing.

Spy was impressed with Engineer's precision with mapping the floors, though he noted the blank areas Engineer hadn't mapped yet with slight disdain.

After Engineer had shown Spy the entirety of the subbasement, Spy excused himself, saying that he had other things to do, but promising to come back later to help Engineer finish mapping the subbasement.

Engineer went back to working on sentry upgrades, having found that exploring just wasn't as fun without somebody else.

As it turned out, Spy was busy for the entire day. (Engineer wasn't sure with what, but he had never really cared where Spy was, as long as he wasn't in Engineer's workshop, and he was_not_ going to start now.)

The next morning, though, while Engineer was trying to fit a flamethrower into his sentry designs, Spy came in. "Bonjour, laborer. I take it you 'ave free time at ze moment?"

This time Engineer managed not to mess up his drawing, though he did jump slightly. "Stop _doin'_ that, Spah!"

"Non, it it much too entertaining. But you 'aven't answered my question, mon ami."

Engineer gave Spy a hefty glare before answering, "Yes, I do have a spot o' free time."

"Zen come," Spy said, tugging on Engineer's shoulder.

Engineer sighed; Spy dropped all pretense of professionalism when excited. "Hold up a sec, Spah, we're gonna need the maps, an' some string, an' a tape measure, an'..."

Engineer and Spy managed to map the entire subbasement in about a week and a half.

Spy seemed to be able to memorize the layout of the floors, and _never_ got lost, which made it somewhat easier for Engineer to map (as he was really the one that was doing the mapping). Spy always seemed to be looking for something, and never found it; he wouldn't tell Engineer _what_, though.


	3. Spy powers, activate!

"Laborer, come 'ave a look at zis," Spy said, tapping Engineer on the shoulder.

"What?"

Spy pointed at a spot on the map. "Look, zere's a spot 'ere with absolutely _nozzing_ in it."

Engineer glanced down at the map and verified Spy's claim. "So what?"

"Zere _must_ be somezing zere. Aren't you going to investigate zis?"

"All right, let's go, then," Engineer said. "Don't ferget the maps."

As Spy had stated, the 'blank spot' did indeed have no entrances or exits.

"Quite interestin', Spah, but what does it mean?"

"Well, since I doubt zey would be so careless as to leave an empty space 'ere, zere must be somezing zere. Let's 'ave a look, shall we?"

"Go ahead."

Spy pressed his ear to the wall and knocked. For reasons unfathomable to Engineer, this elicited a smile.

"Well, what?" Engineer asked.

"Zere is definitely an empty space in ze wall," Spy said. "Which means zat somewhere on zis wall is a secret switch or 'atch of some kind..." Spy started probing the wall, occasionally pushing here and there. "Aha! Child's play," he said, pushing on what appeared to be an ordinary spot of wall. A previously invisible door swung open, narrowly missing Engineer.

Another staircase stretched down into darkness.

Engineer whistled. "Whoo-ee. That's mighty interestin', Spah."

"As I said before, merely child's play," Spy said with a shrug. "Well? Shall we investigate?"

"Sure."

This staircase was even longer than the one leading down to the subbasement, and it took long enough to walk down that Engineer started measuring time by the click of Spy's heels on the stairs. The staircase was completely dark, leaving Engineer to grope at the handrail and hope he didn't slip.

Three hundred forty-nine steps later, there was a soft thump and a "Merde" from in front of Engineer. He then walked into Spy's back.

"Oop, sorrry," Engineer said, stepping back.

"Shush, I am trying to find ze doorknob-zere we are," Spy said, followed by a faint click and the sounds Engineer typically associated with an opening door. "Ze light switch-zere it is. Laborer, it is about to get a lot brighter in 'ere," Spy warned.

Engineer closed his eyes and, sure enough, lights went on. Once his eyes had adjusted, he blinked a few times until the light didn't hurt anymore.

He and Spy were standing in a corridor hauntingly similar to the corridors of the subbasement.

" 'Ow many of zese zings are zere?" Spy said incredulously. "I mean, really, a subsubbasement?"

"Looks like RED Base is quite a bit bigger'n we thought," Engineer remarked with a chuckle. "C'mon, let's go get us some string."

After tying off the end of a ball of twine on the doorknob, Spy and Engineer set off to explore the subsubbasement. Most of the rooms contained only dust, while a few had some old dusty machinery or boxes. It was quite similar to the subbasement, but a little more regular.

They had been poking around for about half an hour when they found a locked door-the first they'd encountered yet.

Spy fished around in his pocket for something and pulled out a small wire. "I should be able to open zis," he said, sticking the wire into the lock. He jiggled it for a few seconds before smiling and opening the door. "_Zere_ we go."

The two stepped inside and automatically looked up. The ceiling was two or three stories above the door, just barely large enough to hold the giant computer housed there.

Engineer could only stare.

"I would be correct in assuming zat zis is what controls Respawn, non?" Spy said.

It took Engineer a few seconds to find his voice. "I think yer on the right track, Spah."

Engineer and Spy took over a month to map the subsubbasement, mostly because Engineer kept getting distracted by the Respawn computer (it also didn't help that the BLUs rolled out a new strategy that left RED working after hours to keep up). Spy allowed him to indulge in this; he looked at the computer as well, though he looked more at its weaknesses than its strengths.

They had just finished mapping out the first floor when they discovered a second; Spy practically had to drag Engineer away from the Respawn computer to get him to help map it.

Since they still weren't done with mapping the whole underground, they hadn't told any other REDs-but was there really any need to?


	4. Hopefully you didn't see this coming

Holding an unwinding ball of twine in his hand, Engineer walked through the many halls of the lower level of the subsubbasement. He kind of liked just _looking _around the big place. Learning his way around the subsubbasement helped him map, too.

He paused and consulted the map of the subsubbasement he held in his hand. He was nearing an area that he and Spy hadn't explored yet, so that was the place to go.

Engineer chose a door at random and opened it, revealing the back of another door, the hinges on the opposite side of the door frame. Both doors were of the variety often found in bathrooms, with a button-lock on one side; in this case, the locks faced outwards.

Wondering why two doors were necessary, he opened the second door and found himself in yet another corridor. How dull.

Engineer had been walking around for a few minutes before he realized that the corridors were _very_ familiar. He glanced at the map and, on a hunch, rotated it 180 degrees. Everything fit.

Hoping that this was just a coincidence, he looked over at the walls, which he discovered were not the usual dusty pinkish-grey. They were a similarly dusty _blueish_-grey.

Engineer was in _BLU_ Base.

He supposed it made sense: the top portions of the bases were much the same, architecturally, and the subsubbasement sprawled quite a bit.

Engineer quietly slunk back to the RED portion of the subsubbasement. Spy was going to find out about the way into BLU Base eventually, but if all of RED found out... it would no doubt be used as a way to attack BLU's Respawn.

Engineer found himself cringing at that thought. Sure, he was being paid to kill BLUs, but his main objective was to get their intel. He'd only signed up because he wasn't going to be killing anybody.

Plus, he wasn't sure if Spy would want to attack BLU through the subsubbasement or not. They'd kept the underground a secret only because it was unimportant and a hazard until they finished mapping it. This would drastically change _that_ justification.

Engineer decided he wouldn't tell Spy-not yet, at least-until he got a better idea of what was going on.


	5. A fortuitous encounter

The next time Engineer had enough free time to justify using some of it to explore the subsubbasement, he cautiously went back to the BLU half.

Spy wasn't with him; he had been detained in the med bay until that evening because of a rather nasty set of burns and bullet wounds. He was too out of it to care, though.

This was the first time Engineer had brought a gun to the underground parts of RED (and BLU) Base: his pistol, in case he had to defend himself from any BLUs. It felt a little odd, like he was breaking a rule. He knew this was silly, but the feeling persisted nonetheless.

As far as he could tell, the BLU subsubbasement was exactly the same as the RED one, which meant he could find his way around quite well.

Did any of the BLUs know about the underground? Engineer had no way of knowing; even if they did, it was highly unlikely that they would be down here at the same time and place as he was...

Engineer had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed the footsteps-not his own-echoing through the corridors. He froze for a moment (just making sure they weren't his own, not because he was _frightened_ or anything) before he turned and ran back towards the RED half of the subsubbasement.

The footsteps gave chase and as Engineer paused to check the map, his pursuer called out, "Hold up! I'm not going to hurt ya!"

Engineer didn't respond, too busy trying to find the door back to the RED subsubbasement. Once he had, he slammed the door on the RED side shut, catching a glimpse of the BLU Engineer as he did so.

As he locked the door to make sure that no BLUs could get in, he noted that it was rather humorous that _both_ Engineers had found out about the underground. He wondered if his BLU counterpart had told any other BLUs about it.

Engineer headed back up to his workshop and went back to tinkering with his sentries, trying not to worry about how Spy would react to the cross-base tunnel and the BLU Engineer.


	6. Spy makes fraternizing w the enemy easy

When Engineer and Spy went back to mapping, Engineer tried to keep them away from the door to BLU Base, but eventually they had to go there.

Spy tapped on the door in question. " 'Ave you investigated zis one?" he asked.

"Uh, not really..."

"Zen we will now."

Spy had his hand on the doorknob when Engineer blurted, "Spah, I need t'come clean to ya on somethin'..."

"Mm? What?" Spy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was pokin' 'round down here the other day an' I went through that door an', well, it goes into BLU Base," Engineer said in a rush.

"_Does_ it now?" Spy was now looking at Engineer with an understandably annoyed expression. "Anyzing _else_ zat you 'aven't told me?"

"Well... I was in the BLU subsubbasement an' I saw the BLU Engineer."

"And you didn't find zis _important _enough to tell me?" Spy said, sounding considerably ticked-off.

"Sorry, Spah. I jus' wasn't sure if you'd want to disable the BLU Respawn or not..."

"I assure you I do not 'ave a one-track mind; I find ze idea of permanently killing ze BLUs as distasteful as you do." Most of the annoyance had faded from Spy's voice by the end of this pronouncement, though he still sounded a bit... hurt?

"Sorry, Spah," Engineer reiterated. He really was sorry; Spy had taken the time to help him out, and Engineer hadn't trusted Spy with the cross-team route.

Spy sighed. "Well, I suppose we should investigate into ze BLU subsubbasement," he said, opening the door.

"Why?"

"We 'ave to map out zis entire place, remember?"

"Uh..." Engineer didn't think that was such a good idea, but he didn't want to argue with Spy. "Okay?"

Engineer and Spy walked through the BLU subsubbasement, Engineer verifying that the BLU half was exactly the same as the RED one. (It was.)

After about half an hour, Spy tapped Engineer on the shoulder. "I zink I 'eard somezing," he said.

They both stopped short. "Like what?" Engineer asked.

Spy shrugged. "Shush now," he warned.

A few seconds later and Engineer could hear it too-footsteps, coming nearer.

Spy didn't do anything for quite a while. Then all of a sudden he smiled and called out, " 'Ey!"

Engineer jumped and glared at Spy. What was he doing?

The BLU Engineer stepped around the corner, looking quite surprised to see two REDs standing there in the hall.

"Bonjour, little machine man," Spy said, not sounding concerned at all.

The Engineer took a moment to form a coherent reply. "Howdy."

The two Engineers and Spy eventually came to an agreement: they all would have free use of the entire subsubbasement, as long as no-one used it as a way to intentionally hurt the other team (this included telling anyone else without first making sure they would abide by the first rule).


End file.
